Soul Eater is a Shonen manga by Atsushi Ookubo which has been regularly serialized in Monthly Shonen Gangan since 2004. It received a 51 episode anime by Studio BONES in 2008. As of January 2011, Monthly Shonen Gangan has ran a Prequel/Spin-Off named Soul Eater Not! by the same mangaka, running alongside the original series while covering and expanding on events prior to the original story.

Maka Albarn: Meister and her scythe, Soul Eater (just call him Soul). She's a raging workaholic, he's a slacker, but they're a great team. They almost made Soul into a Death Scythe at the beginning of the series, but failed on a technicality and now have to start over. Thus they're technically higher-skilled than the position they are in.

Death the Kid: Son of the Shinigami, and a lesser Shinigami himself, he doesn't need to go to the school or develop his own weapons, as his breeding would allow him to skip such formalities, but he feels obligated. His natural talent is offset by his raging OCD—he is completely and utterly obsessed with symmetry. Has two partners, in the form of his pistols, the very blond Thompson Sisters, Patty and Liz. This means that he has to consume twice the quota of souls, but he doesn't really mind this at all. He also holds his guns upside down for some reason.

The series is basically what happens when the plots of Shaman King and Harry Potter are pulsed together in a blender, Studio BONES is put in charge of the animation, and what appears to be the world's biggest Tim Burton fan is hired as animation director. It should be noted that the anime deviates from the source manga midway through the series.

See also Elemental Gelade, a similar concept with a more futuristic sci-fi bent.
Shaman King also shares lots of similarities with this series. (A partner as a weapon, characters design, etc.)

It's worth noting that the "Book of Eibon" is a reference to H.P. Lovecraft. The author being a fan would give a new perspective on the series' focus on madness, power, and godhood, especially portraying madness as something akin to an infectious disease.

Not to be confused with anotherSoulEater. And definitely do NOT confuse this with Shoujo Senki Soul Eater, which is a Hentai.

Tropes used in Soul Eater include:

Warning: The following tropes are from both the Anime and the Manga. Be VERY careful with spoiler text.

Absurdly Sharp Blade: Soul has been shown to be able to cut through stone pillars and a really large Mosquito when in his Demon Hunter form.

Mifune's swords should probably qualify. They sink several inches into the ground, or the walls whenever he throws them. And (at least in the anime) they don't even seem to be particularly magical.

Also inverted since Tsubaki and Liz were the most perverted in Spartoi.

All Witches Have Cats: Blair, who Maka and Soul thought was a witch, turned out to actually be a cat that had a human form and magic and merely dressed like a witch.

Almighty Janitor: All the main characters are considerably more powerful than their status in DWMA would imply: Maka was one soul away from making a Death Scythe when she was forced to start over, Black☆Star never bothers to advance in ranks when he could be training instead, and Death the Kid is a Shinigami.

As Soul Eater Not! has addressed Maka, Soul, and Jacqueline as EAT (Especially Advantaged Talent) students, the 10% of students who considered as combat specialists, it could be assumed that this trope may not apply. Even if they have the same number of stars as an average student despite being very capable, they are ranked in an entirely different class and given different missions.

As of the formation of Spartoi, this trope is out the window, as the 6 weapon-meister pairs included in the group have been promoted to two-star status. YMMV on whether Soul and Maka are still underranked. Soul may be a Death Scythe now, but he and Maka are still very inexperienced using the new abilities that come with being one.

Ambiguous Gender: Crona. Recognized as ambiguous numerous times by characters within canon itself. Any person that seems to know hir gender is probably basing their hypothesis off of fan translations and unsubstantiated claims by other fans. The official English translations of the manga and anime use "he" simply because it's the closest English has to a widely used gender ambiguous pronoun, not because they think Crona is male. There is no solid canon support for Crona being either gender, partially thanks to third-person pronouns ("he" & "she") being almost completely unused in Japanese.

Amusing Injuries: Somewhat averted. In the first fight between Black☆Star and Kid, Black☆Star still has the head wound Soul accidentally gave him, even after the battle. Somewhat, because they don't die of comedic injuries, but averted because the injuries do last for the normal amount of time.

Medusa and Arachne both have the motifs of predatory animals (snake and spider), whereas their henchmen have the motif of their prey. Frogs (Eruka) and mice (the Mizune sisters), whose names are the Japanese words for "frog" and "mouse" with their syllables reversed (kaeru and nezumi) for Medusa. Mosquito for Arachne.

Anime Hair: While both Soul and Black☆Star have spiky hair, their hairstyles pale in comparison to Ox Ford's sheer pillars.

During the invasion of Arachne's castle, Ox pretty much outright says that his pillars are the source of all of his powers. When he breaks them off (not rip; break, like they're made of ceramic), his soul actually starts weakening. Then Kim uses her regenerative magic to glue them back on and tells him not to wash his hair for a couple of days, which might account for the reason as to why he stopped shaving his head.

The fact that he was stabbed in the gut and bleeding heavily in a steaming room might have had something to do with it, though.

Shinigami-sama and Kid are shinigami, but they are not actually personifications of death — they are little more than powerful meisters, with no specific control or influence over death.

As of now, it been explicitly stated that Shinigami-sama is an Eldritch Abomination / Anthropomorphic Personification of death, and his actual name is Death. Kid is actually a fragment of him, given a unique personality and independence, and Shinigami-sama will most likely cease to exist once Kid comes into his full powers.

Anti-Advice: In the anime's ending, while Marie and Crona are searching for Medusa, there's a montage of them searching a swamp. After a while Crona decides to simply go in the opposite direction to the one Marie picked.

Anti-Villain: Mifune, the noble Samurai who fights only to defend the child witch Angela. Note the irony in his Rival being Black☆Star, an assassin working for the good guys. Most assassins are not good people in this series.

Then again, he's not a very good assassin. Really, Black☆Star wants to be a straight-up warrior too, but he's not adverse to putting assassin arts and stealth to good use.

Eruka may or may not be an Anti-Villain. Yes, she's a witch. Yes, she wants to revive Asura. But that's only because if she doesn't follow Medusa's orders, her snakes will eat Eruka from the inside out. Also has a giant tadpole named Otama Jackson for a pet.

Artistic License Physics: The battle with Free ends with him frozen and sinking to the bottom of a river. Ice floats, in case everyone forgot.

Actually, if the immortal werewolf (complete with ball and chain) was more dense than water, and if he was only surrounded by a thin layer of ice, which is only slightly less dense than water, it is conceivable that the average density of the ice and werewolf system could be slightly greater than water, causing him to slowly sink.

This trope is the only reason why anyone is still alive in the most recent arc. Everyone is fighting on the moon, with no spacesuits-- First of all, anyone who passed third grade science should know that there is no air on the moon, so how are they breathing? And even before they started to choke, they should've been ripped apart by the low pressure, and those are only two of the reasons why they should all be dead.

Ascended Meme: In chapter 74, Excalibur sings his little song which up until that point was only heard in the anime. All together now! "Excalibuuur! Excalibuuur!"

Awesome but Impractical: Excalibur, who is something of an Infinity+1 Sword, has an insane amount of unreasonable demands that he makes to the point that people decide that his power is totally not worth it.

Though, he was willing to cut down his list of 1,000 unreasonable demands to a still-unreasonable 800 demands just so that someone would use him. Presumably, a very persuasive meister could negotiate him down to something manageable.

Awesome but ANNOYING really. And so awesome, in fact, that in a failure student claims him and becomes THE BEST MEISTER in the school. The weapon form itself is exceedingly practical and easy to use, and extremely awesome. It's just the PERSONALITY that makes it unmanageable.

It's heavily implied that Excalibur is actually an Eldritch Abomination that is the personification of rage. He's just that annoying.

Soul. Anyone whose ever done any kind of weapons training knows that having your only cutting edge on the side of your weapon that faces YOU is not good. Scythes are extremely impractical weapons in real life and hard as hell to use in a fight against any other weapon. Traditionally, even spearmen would carry a short sword on them in case the enemy got past the pointy end of the spear (the only part that they were concerned about).The fact Maka can wield Soul and beat up magic and sword users is a testament to her awesomeness.

This is mitigated at higher-level transformations as "Witch Hunter" is shown to be effective with both inner and outer edges, while the highest form up to now, the "Demon Hunter" transforms Soul's weapon form into an oversized Pick-Axe.

Note also that, at least in the anime, Death's weapon of choice is a Scythe. He's even mentioned as being "at his finest".

Awesomeness By Analysis: Parodied. At one point, Kilik gets into a fight with a mook with a magitek headset that lets him accurately predict exactly what moves Kilik will use to fight him. Unfortunately for the mook, he has absolutely none of the skills required to actually make use of this data, and promptly surrenders.

Badass Bookworm: It's easy to forget under the maniacally grinning, scythe waving badassery, but Maka is a nerd that spends most of her free time reading and has really no idea how to play basketball or to dance without crushing her partner's feet.

Badass Longcoat: Maka. With a sweet new white one to parade around in school, as of joining Spartoi.

Special mention to Death the Kid in the manga; during the beginning of the Baba Yaga's Castle arc he temporarily sported a trenchcoat with the same closures and shoulder-decals as his blazer and a collar like the cloak he sometimes wears on outings. It was invisibly ditched before he could fight in it, but he still looked even more badass than usual in it. No sign of it in the anime, though.

Badass Normal: Mifune in the anime. No magical weapons or overt supernatural powers—all he's got is a backpack full of swords, and he still fights both Shibusen teachers, Almighty Janitor students and a Kishin on equal footing.

The Manga version is explicitly revealed to have a supernatural connection with his swords, however.

Wait, wait. Did you not see that Infinite Sword attack involving landing 24 individual hits, then launching the swords OFF his opponent back into the ground?

But, then again compared to people like Stein, he is VERY much normal...

Badass Teacher: The Shibusen staff in general, though Stein is the one with most examples.

Ballroom Blitz: One of the episodes, where the Kishin is eventually released. Soul and Maka's scene in the Black Room might count as well, seeing as they are dressed up during that scene and in imminent danger of succumbing to insanity.

Bandage Babe: Sid's partner Nygus is always covered in bandages. What adds to the irony is that she is also a school nurse.

The fact she is not always bandaged begs the question why she has them in the first place.

Her meister is a ninja zombie. I think she's supposed to be a mummy ninja to keep with the whole 'Undead' theme. Why she stopped is a question for the ages.

Baseball Episode: Not an episode per se, but the gang do take time out of their schedule to play Basketball whenever they get downtime.

Battle Couple: Soul and Maka, Black☆Star and Tsubaki and a few others.

Except they're not technically couples.

Beam-O-War: Shinigami and Asura perform a variation of these, involving a beam versus an energy shield, or an energy shield versus another.

Beat: In an episode where Kid investigates a ghost ship, Liz gets separated from him and Patty. When the spirit of a little girl manifests before her, she looks at her in fright as the scene freezes for exactly ten seconds, before she scurries away in fear.

Berserk Button: Soul has absolute faith in Maka's abilities, knows she can take care of herself, and he'll call her on it if she acts up or they're out of sync. But he does NOT act well when someone seriously threatens Maka. Apart from willing to literally act as a Human Shield for her (on more than one occasion), he does not take well to this. Which results in this followed by this.

Big Bad: Medusa is the first one, followed by Arachne, and then Noah (the Greed incarnation). Later, it was revealed to be the Table of Contents controlling Noah. Then finally Asura as the Bigger Bad for the entire series and possible end boss. In Soul Eater NOT!, it's Shaula Gorgon, the younger sister of Arachne and Medusa.

Witch Hunter isn't technically a scythe. Scythes have one blade on the inside curve. It's a giant Monk's Spade in a large crescent shape because it can cut on the outside edge.

By the time you hit Demon and Kishin Hunter, you're not swinging a scythe blade anymore, those are giant glowing AXES. Demon and Kishin Hunter cut on the outside edges. Many, MANY edges for Kishin Hunter.

Bigger Bad: Asura. He has no direct impact on the story other than spreading madness wavelengths and being the final villain for three episodes of the anime. But he has a made a few recurring appearances, like Medusa is still the most active villain and possibly features in the Battle of the Moon as a fully Major Villain.

Bishonen Line: Mosquito and most of the pre-kishins as they devour more and more souls, it seems.

In the anime, Asura arguably gets this after Kid and Black☆Star wear him down. Arguably because that may have been his stronger form (hence not a proper BL)

Bloody Hilarious: In one episode where the students of Shibusen must take an important exam, neither Soul nor Black☆Star study, intending to cheat instead. However, Soul gets his "crib notes" taken away, and Black☆Star gets beaten senseless for looking at the answer sheet and is left lying in front of the class to serve as an example. However, just when all seems lost, Black☆Star signals Soul, and begins to write on the wall beside him using his own blood. Soul, thinking that Black☆Star is trying to show him the answers before time runs out, eagerly awaits his friend to finish writing... only to realize that Black☆Star is writing an autograph for him. May also count as Can't Get Away with Nuthin'.

Bunny Ears Lawyer: A very large amount of the cast, particularly the teachers at the Academy. For instance, Spirit is the most powerful Death Scythe in the world, but is a Loveable Sex Maniac and Bumbling Dad. Stein is the most talented Meister to have ever graduated from the Academy and is a brilliant, amoral scientist, but has a certain tendency to travel around on a swivel chair whenever possible and is a bonafide maniac. Marie has lightning powers and is another powerful Death Scythe, but is so obsessed with getting married that she once tried to start a relationship with a toilet. And Tesca Tlipoca... another Death Scythe who wears a giant bear head mask and can apparently understand a monkey's language. The list goes on and on.

But Not Too Foreign: If Black☆Star's words when he visits Tsubaki's home are to be believed, Maka has at least a little Japanese in her. Since "Spirit Albarn" isn't a particularly Japanese name, it's possible that it comes from her never-seen mother.

Which would mean her mother is a rare blonde Asian, or Spirit's hair is dyed, like Cat Valentine.

Black☆Star is basically a combination of Naruto and Sasuke. Think about it, a hyperactive, knucklehead, kid ninja who's the last of his clan, uses a sword, has crazy markings appear on his face when he in his dangerous, yet powered up form, and even has a special kind of star symbol in his eyes.

Maka says "I'll take your soul!" or something similar (she even says it at the end of each episode preview after the closing credits).

Soul does it in her place too, sometimes.

"MAKA CHOP!!!!"

Black☆Star has his "YAH-HOO!" when he's showing off.

"Not a single being in heaven or on earth is as holy as I." (This is a line from the Buddhist canon, believe it or not, alleged to have been spoken by Buddha himself. In Japanese, the first few words are... get this .. "Tenjho Tenge.")

Sid likes the phrase, "That was the kind of man I used to be."

Of course, before he became a zombie, it was "That's the kind of man I am".

Crona has two; "My blood is black", and "I don't know how to deal with [X]."

Excalibur's "my legend began in the 12th century", and "FOOLS!."

Death the Kid's "Kichiri Kachiri", which could be translated as "Precise and Perfect".

Stein's "I want to dissect [X]."

"REAPER CHOP!!!!"

Free is a bit rusty at the whole magic thing, so his mishaps are usually accompanied with an emphatic "GODDAMMITSHIT!"

Character Development: Crona, particularly in the anime. BIG time Crona. S/He starts out as a nigh bloodthirsty monster who loves to kill and eat souls. But as the story goes on, it becomes clear that s/he is being used by hir mother. Fortunately, this is not a Heel Face Turn because, s/he remains afraid of everyone inside Shibusen, only listening and following Maka. S/He slowly learns to appreciate Marie, then the whole cast, delivering one of the most adorable moments in the series history. It takes a grand total of 30 episodes for Crona to become one of the good guys. Then s/he gives hir life for Maka... Sort of.

Characterization Marches On: Over the course of the anime, Soul becomes less hotheaded and more of the laid back 'cool' guy he always strives to be. It's not Character Development because this was never something addressed or called out on, it just happens and nobody notices. He makes Maka the hotheaded on in comparison.

Chekhov's Gunman: Enrique and Tezcatlipoca were quickly introduced (as mysterious bear and monkey) during chapter 47, when the Shibusen students were going to Arachnophobia's base. They weren't mentioned or saw again until chapter 60, when Arachne died and Medusa was about to kill Maka.

Christmas Cake: Poor Marie, and she is very anxious about her unmarried status; see Cargo Ship entry to see just 'how desperate she wants to be married. (Nervous Laugh)

Church Militant: Justin Law is a very devout Christian, but also the Death Scythe in charge of Europe. Interestingly he views Shinigami-sama as God. Nobody corrects him. This would make Death the Kid... Jesus. Lord help us all, pun intended.

On the bright side, crucifixion would be the perfect end for Death The Kid: it's a perfectly symmetrical execution device.

Just add the fact that Spirit would be THE Holy Spirit and your brain starts to melt.

...It would explain his taste in young women though.

To make it stranger yet, Justin Law turns out to really worship the Kishin instead in the manga...

Cigarette of Anxiety: Doctor Stein tends to do this when he needs to calm down. It's subverted once after his second fight with Medusa, where rather than calming down he's has a bout of Laughing Madness because of the Kisin being released. This is later exploited to frame him for the murder of BJ, by leaving a packet of his favorite cigarettes (which the local shopkeeper orders in for him specially) at the scene.

Cloudcuckoolander: Excalibur. Explains why no one tries to wield him, ever, despite being the most powerful of all the weapons.

Color Failure: Several examples. Most recently in episode 46 when Excalibur turns up in the Death Room. Shinigami, Yumi and Spirit go white for several seconds before promptly resuming their conversation and ignoring the newcomer.

Compliment Backfire (or possibly Compliment Just-As-Planned): After Crona devastates a whole city using the Black Blood, Medusa makes dinner(!) and tells Crona how proud she is(!!). Crona freaks out, first attacking Medusa for her hellish experiments and forcing hir to abandon Maka, the only person who made Crona happy, then for acting so strangely ("Who are you?! What have you done with my mother?!"). The Clown is pleased: Crona is now completely independent and able to receive the Kishin and Medusa's vectors indicate she's not quite dead.

Cool and Unusual Punishment: After Death the Kidd is captured by Noah, Gopher attempts to tourture Kidd for fun and profit by beating the shit out of him, to no avail. Once Gopher finds out about Kidd's OCD, he tortures Kidd by drawing on only one side of his face, and by using a back scratcher to scratch one of the boy's nipples, but not the other.

Covert Pervert: It's only alluded to, but the Guide in the book of Eibon said you will regain your true form from the chapter of Lust when you feel less lustful. Notice that Tsubaki is the only one specifically worried about not turning back.

Confirmed. Tsubaki AND Liz still haven't changed back as of Chapter 74. And it's hilarious.

In their defense, they're the two oldest people there and Lust wBs specifically noted as being affected by age.

Update: Tsubaki was last to change back, meaning that she was the most perverted of the group, which prompted Black☆Star to wonder if they should stop sleeping in the same room.

Actually it's Blair (who's still a tom) not that there's any surprise and Tsubaki changes back a couple of panels later.

Creepy Cool Crosses: Spirit's tie and attire during the flashbacks. The Death Room is full of (mostly wonky, as it happens) crosses, though with Okhubo's use of numerous religious references, this could actually be plot-relevant.

This troper thought for some time that they were the remains of previous Death Scythes.

One epilogue scene (during the final episode credits) shows Shinigami burying a red/evil/soul/orb in the field-of-crosses, using one cross as a piledriver/seal of some sort.

Cross-Dressing Voices: Black☆Star is voiced by Yumiko Kobayashi, a woman. This becomes more evident in his character song, "My Star".

Also he is voiced by a female in the english dub.

You may recognize Crona's voice as Fujioka Haruhi's. But well... we're not sure WHAT Crona is yet, so this trope may not fit. But it might. Maybe not, though. It possibly could — why are you so confusing, Crona!?

This is the Japanese voice actor - Maaya Sakamoto, not Caitlin Glass.

Crossover: Happens when the in-universe manga works Soul Eater and Soul Eater Not! decide to use similar characters. In the Soul Eater manga, Akane Star and Clay Sizemore show up as members of the Central Information Office, complete with aged appearances and new hairstyles.

And we have Shinigami. A more striking example than Black☆Star in the sense that until the Asura arc there was far less indication that he was hiding such ruthless badassery behind daft antics and a funny mask. And then we find out he tore some guy's skin off, made it into a bag, and LOCKED THE STILL LIVING BODY IN THE BAG to protect the world from being consumed by madness. And is quite willing and capable to do so again if need be, regardless of his current persona. So, yeah.

Arguably Shinigami, Kid and the GOO (if not all their fellow anthropomorphic... things). At best, they're eccentric (the GOO's manner being very reminiscent of Shinigami), at worst downright scary. Even Kid when he gets suitably provoked, definitely Shinigami.

The Dog Bites Back: Subverted, when Crona loses the power from hir black blood and, by extention, Ragnarok is weakened, Crona hits him. He gets angry and more than ever he teases Crona, who still can't defend hirself.

And then later on when Crona apparently kills Medusa. You really can't say that the bloodbath that followed wasn't very much deserved.

Eldritch Abomination: The Kishin. The strongest of them, even Shinigami-sama isn't sure was ever human to begin with. In addition, Eibon is a direct reference to H.P. Lovecraft.

Not to mention whatever the hell Noah's got stashed away in the Book of Eibon looks like Cthulhu made of ink.

It's now referred to itself as a Great Old One.

GOO says there were originally eight "Warlords", 3 of them eaten by Kishin. These beings all have powers over terror, rage, power, knowledge, and order which drives mortals mad. Oh, and it also calls Death the Kid as "fragment of Law" which sort of explains his obsession with symmetry.

Also, Maba-Sama. As tall as, if not slightly taller than, Angelica, has bat-like wings, which are generally useless, since she prefers to hover; and one of the very few close-ups of her face makes her look like she was built by someone from a Tim Burton visual effects studio.

In the manga, he is never referred to as Spirit until after Kishin is released. Until then he's just referred to as Papa, Senpai, or Death Scythe.

No, I believe that while Maka and Black☆Star fought Stein, Stein mentioned spirit by name, and Maka had to tell Soul that it was Death Scythe.

Everything's Better with Monkeys: Tezca Tlipoca, one of Shibusen's Death Scythes (presumably the South American one), has a monkey for a meister. His name is Enrique, and is apparently quite the joker.

Dr. Franken Stein himself seems a heck of a lot like Kakashi to me: a teacher, presiding over a group of three kids, 2 boys and 1 girl, who is a badass genius prodigy with silver hair, who has a stupid thing happen to him the first time he walks in (Kakashi: eraser trick gag, Stein: Swivel chair fail), gives them a test early in the series (Kakashi: the bell test, Stein: the Remedial Class) and ends up with lightning powers (kakashi's signature move, Stein when he partners with Marie), and were both loners as children (granted Stein was Axe Crazy and Kakashi was just an arrogant I Work Alone type). I mean they aren't exact copies, and Stein is a unique and interesting character in his own right, but the influence is definitely there.

Female weapons generally appear naked when shown within their virtual world while transformed. The male Soul started clothed, but became naked when he had a giant scar to show off. Mercifully, the way-too-young-looking Fire and Thunder appear clothed.

Furo Scene: Blair is introduced in a furo scene. Also, Tsubaki takes a bath after studying for the big exam.

After many chapters with little to no fan service, we get a scene with nearly all the female leads in the shower - which was immediately followed by nearly all the male leads in the shower. Apparently Okhubo has been taking a few lessons in gender equality when it comes to fanservice. Seen here

Gainaxing: The girl-weapons in their "in weapon persona", especially Tsubaki.

And don't forget Marie.

Also Arachne had her moments of this.

Gangsta Style: The Kid takes this to its ridiculous extreme by inverting his guns and firing with his pinkies.

Gecko Ending: The anime splits off from the manga around the BREW recovery action, setting up the remaining time for a premature ending.

This was unavoidable though as the manga is produced monthly and the anime weekly. Making it impossible to to follow the canon storyline without the manga catching up.

Gender Bender: As of chapter 72 in the manga... it's somehow canon. And surprisingly enough, Kid (who gets the most genderbending fanart) is the only one who doesn't go through this. To make up for that, there's Kilik.

Giriko has a slightly more permanent gender bending experience because his soul is now in an Opposite Gender Clone. He's annoyed that he's a woman, but it's better than nothing.

Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: Awesomely handled by Patty on Kid as he brokedown at the sight of the Otama Bombs asymmetrically strewn all over the place by Eruka, while on his way to stop her and Free from awakening Ashura.

Getting Crap Past the Radar: One of Gopher's attacks involves him opening his stomach-ish area and shooting out a huge sphere of energy while screaming "NOAH-SAMA!" Not to mention he has an insane infatuation with Noah...

In the anime (episode 10) they encounter an old man. They call him that and he objects, saying that he's active all day and all night. While doing hip thrusts.

Also, when he speaks of the part of his past when he was a street hoodlum (in the same episode), many Gratuitous English words pop up onscreen, including even an aversion of Precision F-Strike (at a point, the word "PUCKIN'" appears).

The Grim Reaper: Shinigami-sama. We see a flashback to his more traditional persona and he comments that his current "goofy" appearance is as not to frighten the children at his school. His name is also "Death", which we see written in English.

Half-Human Hybrid: Maka's father is a weapon while her mother was not, but slightly averted in that she doesn't seem to be any different to other humans.

It's quite possible that in the Soul Eater universe, being a weapon or meister is apart of your genes like your hair color and whatnot. And Maka got the meister gene from her mother.

A flashback in the manga has Soul's brother commenting on how their family had just enough of the "Weapon Bloodline" for it to manifest in Soul.

In the anime, Maka activated her "Weapon Bloodline" to fight Asura.

In the manga, the 'weapon bloodline' mentioned above was the result of Arachne using Eibon's work to create the original Demon Weapons (the Nakatsukasas are direct descendants). So, being a Weapon is genetic but the result of tampering, not 'natural' evolution, as it were. Maka has unusual traits - demonslayer wavelength, Grigori soul - but these are put down to being very rare in humans rather than a result of her dad being a Weapon.

Hot Witch: Medusa, Arachne, and the Mizune sisters when they fuse together. Blair should count, but doesn't because she's not actually a witch. Eruka is more Cute Witch than hot, and Angela is most definitely a Cute Witch.

Idiot Ball: At the end of the anime after the main characters get trapped inside Asura's barrier, everyone else stands around moaning about how they wish they could do something. Hello, how about attacking the barrier? There may only be a tiny chance you'll make a breach to send reinforcments, but even if you don't you might distract the Kishin or force him to use more of his power to keep the shield in place. Baka, indeed.

It's even dumber when you consider that Excalibur is right there with them. Yeah, he makes people go though 1000 tasks (or something like that) before you can use him, but he's the most powerful weapon in existance and I think he would make an exception for the end of the world.

Inconsistent Translation: A bit of a minor one, but the English dub alternates between referring to some of Tsubaki's various forms by their English names (chain-scythe, ninja star) and their Japanese ones (kasari-gama, shuriken).

Incredibly Lame Pun: Mandheling brand coffee sounds like mandolin, which is why Shinigami keeps strumming a chord every time he talks to Joe Buttataki about coffee. It's a knee-slapper, that one.

This one, from when Kid first meets Soul and Black☆Star. It's kinda subtle at first, but becomes more obvious upon the second reading:

Shinigami: "We... Well, it's not like we have serious meetings anyways... Something like this is good sometimes."Marie: "IDIOT!! We're never serious, so we're allowed to be crazy sometimes? That's ridiculous!!"

Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Black☆Star. Despite being an arrogant jerk that often sets back his and Tsubaki's goal and rubs people (Read: Maka) the wrong way, he is very loyal to his friends. When Tsubaki is fighting her brother, he sits very patiently watching and yells at anyone who disturbs her "show". He tells Crona that if s/he is having problems with anyone to let him know, and Black☆Star will take care of them. And when Maka is paralyzed, he and Tsubaki go to track down who did it to her.

Jerkass: MEDUSA, MEDUSA, MEDUSA. Probably moreso than any other character in the series.

Juggling Loaded Guns: Death the Kid, when he shot Soul and Black☆Star during their bromance hug by accident.

Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In the English dub, during a mission that takes place in a magnetic field that turns you into a memory after 20 minutes (science!): "Come on, we've got to prioritize, this show's only got 10 minutes left!" There happened to be 10 minutes left in the episode, too.

In episode 37, Soul says something along the lines of "Special training isn't cool. Leave that to characters in shonen manga."

Left Hanging: Without spoiling too much, the anime ended with quite a lot of plot threads left dangling.

Let's Get Dangerous: When the eyes on Shinigami-sama's mask go from round-and-dopey to triangular-and-angry, everyone in the next 3 mile radius should kindly RUN AWAY if they don't have a will written.

Also, Kid with one of the Sanzu lines completed = bad. Kid with one of the Sanzu lines completed, and NOT having an OCD breakdown = Kiss Your Ass Goodbye.

Don't forget, Black☆Star when he's not being a Large Ham. You're screwed. Very screwed.

Spirit: "Pumpkin panties..."Medusa: "Say another word and I will kill you!"

The Lonely Piano: Appears in the final battle after Maka and Soul wake up to find that the rest of their Nakama have all been defeated. Of course, they were asking for it, given how Soul both plays the piano and uses this for a literal Theme Music Power-Up.

Lost in Translation: In the original recording, Joe Buttakaki argues with Lord Death about his coffee requirements but ends his sentence with a word in Japanese that sounds like "mandolin", so Death, confused, holds a mandolin. In the English dub, they change it so both characters just say "coffee beans", meaning it's no longer a miscommunication, and Lord Death holds a mandolin for absolutely no reason!

In a similar instance, Lord Death and the Death Scythe Spirit are having a philosophical argument about telling jokes and women’s underwear. In the original recording, they compare the importance of repetition in jokes to the repetition in layers of lasagna, which props a helpful popup on the screen to explain the comparison. In the dub, the comparison is taken out of the dialogue, but the popup remains, referring to a lasagna which none of the characters are talking about.

Lovable Sex Maniac: For all his flaws, Maka's Dad is a well meaning, caring and lovable fella.

Love Bubbles: Spoofed with the "break-up" between Soul and Black☆Star.

Magic Skirt: With the frequency that she is thrown rolling backwards and all the tumbling she is doing, it's quite surprising that Maka hasn't become the queen of Panty Shot with that short little skirt of hers.

The manga averted this for a bit, but later chapters have played it straight.

Moment Killer: During the scene in the infirmary shortly after their first battle with Crona, Maka is shown standing beside Soul's bed and starts to tear up while looking at an unconcious Soul. She just about gets to finish making a heroic promise before Black☆Star literally crashes into the room and starts strangling Soul on his bed. Many shippers probably agreed that the Maka Chop which came afterward was well-deserved.

Moral Dissonance: "Hey! Black☆Star! Wanna kill that witch? Never mind that she's, like, ten years old and has never harmed a fly. She's a witch so it's perfectly legal to murder her!" :D

To be fair, he doesn't go through with it.

May have been the point if it was Shinigami's intention to see if Black☆Star would go through with it once he found out who his targets actually were (possibly re-enforced by the fact that he later allows Angela to stay). The manga also reminds us on occasion that the teams are limited in who they can kill, and with Shinigami being as mysterious as he is it's not at all clear what the rules are and how far he has his human followers go (he has no problem using witches when he gets the chance, for e.g).

Never Say "Die": Oddly enough, this trope is present in the English dub when Crona's training as a child with the baby dragon "little one" comes up. Flashbacks show Medusa ordering hir to "defeat" rather than kill it. This is strange, given that other parts of the dub seem to have no problem mentioning death.

Medusa probably figured that telling Crona to kill the "little one" would have freaked hir out even more.

New Old Flame: Marie and Buttataki Joe in the manga. Temporary; Justin Law kills him shortly after.

Because Buttataki has a different role in the anime, the role is given to Stein there instead.

Though, that can also be seen in the manga. He's referred to as her "first love" and she's obviously pretty close to him, so it can be construed as at least a subtexty New Old Flame.

No Sense of Direction: Marie constantly gets lost in Shibusen, even though she's supposed to be an Alumna. Crona and Ragnarok kind of use this to their advantage once to get out of trouble, saying they were also lost when they go into a restricted area. It took them two hours to find Crona's dorm room while being led by Marie.

Shown again by Marie when her and Crona are on their way to Medusa's hideout. Marie points the two in the direction of a series of confusing signs, the first of which lead to snakes, the second which led to quicksand and the third which led to this creepy (possibly Nightmare Fuel) crayon monster. At the fourth sign, which is pointing in three different dirrections, is when Crona breaks the chain (before it went downhill) and leads the duo that time.

Free also. After infiltrating Baba Yaga's castle the team split up to destroy the Magic Tool Locks that protected Arachne's room. Free was assigned to destroy Lock number 1 of 8. Because of his lack of direction, however, he went instead towards tower 2. He ended up in tower 8 on the other side of the castle. Luckily, this let him meet up with Kid and pull off a personality change and stick it to Mosquito rather easily....Mostly.

Obfuscating Stupidity: Shinigami developed his child-like persona for the sake of his students, as he would often scare them in his old form. However, some of his original hardcore personality shows up in his fight with Asura.

Odd Couple: Nearly all Meisters and Weapons are opposites of each other, and as they find a medium their power increases.

Makes one wonder about Shinigami, looking at his current collection of Death Scythes. Even accounting for Spirit being 'the' Death Scythe, that's an awful lot of contrasting personalities going on amongst the introduced area heads. Azusa's uptight, Marie's a ditz...

On that note, who imagines a Grim Reaper carrying a sniper rifle/crossbow, a hammer or a mirror? Puts a slightly different spin on the term "odd couple".

One of the reasons that Spirit doesn't go searching for Kishin was along the lines of him being "the only one who can truly be called a Death Scythe".

Oh Crap: When Soul appears in front of Maka to take a slash from Crona. Maka's expression is this.

In the manga, during the Baba Yaga invasion arc, Kid and Free fight Mosquito, and at first it looks like they have the upper hand. But then Mosquito turns into his vampire form from 400 years ago, and nearly kills them both in less than a second.

And then Mosquito gets one of his own when he realises that Kid has the real Brew. Kid then forces him to retreat.

Oh, No, Not Again: Black☆Star takes the cake when, after seeing Excalibur in the Wrath chapter of Eibion, which naturally pissed him off, the group leaves the chapter with Black☆Star (and pretty much everyone else) glad to be ridden of the annoyance, only to find Excaliburagain in the next chapter. Black☆Star's reaction? Well...

Black☆Star: [upon seeing Excalibur] OH HELL NO!

Ominous Latin Chanting: Shows up during the fights between Shinigami and the Kishin, and during most of the Kishin battles.

One Head Taller: In the main cast, the female weapons are significantly taller than their male meisters. Soul and Maka are at pretty much the same height.

Not anymore, they aren't. Soul had a growth spurt, it seems. As did Black☆Star.

Although technically he is from the Star Clan and his father was named White☆Star, so you could argue that Star is the family name.

Only the Chosen May Wield: Due to their personality overlap and personal relationships, each weapon can generally only be wielded by whatever meister it is assigned to at the moment. Adult meisters and deathscythes appear to be exceptions to this, ironically, as is Excalibur.

OOC Is Serious Business: Shinigami is a sillygoofball most of the time, except when he's dealing with Asura. In fact, during his last fight with Asura, the longer the fight goes on, the more serious and less goofy he gets. At the end he barely even sounds like the same entity.

Pet the Dog: Upon hearing that Maka was injured in a battle and is now bedridden, Mifune gives Black☆Star a 'get well' candy to give to her. Medusa too can have some kindhearted moments, prompting Soul to ask, "Why would someone who could say something so kind decide to mess up the world? Are you really that cold-hearted?" Medusa doesn't respond.

Power Born of Madness: In Chapter 42, Maka and Soul evidently agree that "insanity is the source of strength." The strongest example of this appears to be the Black Blood, although other characters seem to receive some form of power boost from insanity as well.

Power Echoes: A rather humurous example with Black☆Star in episode 13. When he breaks out his demon blade form for the first time against Free, everything slows down and an echoe of "shadow star... star... star... star..." can be heard. Turns out it was Black☆Star repeating the last word over and over again as he passed out mid-attack.

Power Gives You Wings: Manga only Maka possesess the rare angel-winged Grigori type soul, which she uses to create wings for Death Scythe Soul to fly.

Power Perversion Potential: Masamune can provide both bondage and single-handed gangrape. Soul can and has been used for things he oughtn't be used for in doujin and H-rated pictures. Let us not speak of Medusa's extras in literally every Medusa-centric doujin ever. Time will only tell if Noah has it.

Product Placement: The book Maka is always reading is Gangan, the magazine the manga is serialized in.

Pronoun Trouble: With Crona's gender left ambiguous, fan scanlators, subbers, and dubbing companies were sometimes forced to make a best guess. This has led some fans to claim to know Crona's true gender, even though there's no canonical support.

Punny Name: Dr. Franken Stein and Eruka (spelled with the same syllables as "kaeru", Japanese for frog), just to name a few...

Also, Maka is an anagram of "kama", which is Japanese for scythe.

Puppeteer Parasite: Another lovely trick of Medusa's. After her main body is cut in half, she ventures into modern day suburbia in snake form, and slithers into a random child's mouth, taking over her body and running off. It Only Works Once, so she can't do it again.

Later, it turns out she can do it again.

Medusa explains to Arachne that it was splitting up her soul (to avoid it being eaten by Death Scythe), not the possession, that she could only to the once, due to the Kishin's soul wavelength at that point.

Scars Are Forever: Soul gets a large scar during the first fight with Crona. It remains visible on his body for the rest of the series.

Also, in the manga Black☆Star ends up with a clean scar that bissects the star tattoo on his shoulder after his last fight with Mifune. Even the healer can't remove it, and Black☆Star essentially claims that's because it represents his Character Development.

Scary Shiny Glasses: Dr. Franken Stein is pretty much obligated to do this. Azusa regularly uses this to intimidate people. Ox Ford also fulfils this trope in a less scary fashion.

Schizo-Tech: Outside of Death City is a mishmash of technological eras. Ancient Japanese villages and modern-day Suburbia and everything inbetween.

Series Goal: The meisters and weapons are supposed to be gathering 99 human souls and 1 witch soul, but this goal becomes mostly irrelevant once the Knight of Cerebus is introduced.

Not exactly irrelevent, just not the be-all and end-all for the series. Once Maka and Soul actually get the Death Scythe rank (well, Soul technically) the reality of the position is quickly impressed upon them: Death Scythes exist for a reason, and their abilities are necessary. Which is rather different from the original impression, where it appeared that the position was sought for the sake of it; none of the kids seemed to know what being a Death Scythe involved.

Seven Deadly Sins: The Book of Eibon is organized into seven chapters based on the seven sins. It starts with Lust, then progresses through Gluttony, Envy, Wrath, Pride, Sloth, and finally Greed, supposedly organized by the corrupting influences of each vice.

Shinigami: Interestingly, only Shinigami-sama and his son are directly refered to as this. Meisters and Weapons have varying origins. Some are born in Death City, and some Weapons were "found" as humans. It's a blurry line, as Maka is the daughter of a Meister and her Weapon Partner.

Thanks to the manga explaning some things, it seems now to be more clear.

Shinigami have distinctive souls, and there are only two in the cast - Shinigami and Kid - and it seems to be a race rather than a designation.

The Weapons are descended from experiments by Arachne to fuse the souls of humans with the transformative souls of witches - their ability to switch between human and Weapon forms is genetic.

The anime uses Maka's parentage to give her special abilities, whereas the manga has not; she is apparently a normal human, albeit one with a few rare traits and a very handy infection.

That being said, the manga hasn't yet specifically ruled out the possibility of Maka having latent weapon powers yet and it is a shonen series so really it's still up in the air.

Ship Tease: Soul Eater has so much potential for canon and crack pairings that this is practically inevitable. It doesn't help either when your average weapon/meister relationship includes huge helpings of fierce protectiveness on both sides. Added to this the fact that the core teams of weapon/meister (as well as a few others) have members of opposite genders... Well, you get the idea.

Significant Anagram: Maka is an anagram of "kama", the Japanese word for scythe. Eruka is an anagram of "kaeru", the Japanese word for frog, and Mizune is an anagram of "nezumi", the Japanese word for mouse.

Sinister Scythe: Interestingly, only Soul Eater himself and the most recent Death Scythe (Maka's father) are true examples of this. Despite their name, the Death Scythes consist of various types of weapons.

Three, to be precise. Since they're all on one side they are the bane of his symmetry-obsessed existance.

In fact, when he gets his super power boost, one dramatically grows to form a full loop, though it goes back to normal when he does. The conversation about this it's states that once he grows/inherits his full Shinigami powers, all of them will do this, all the time.

Slasher Smile: So, so many examples. Medusa's is particularly demonic; Maka's is surprising when you realize just how much control she has over it.

The Sun and the Moon BOTH have one!

Soul also shows his off a lot, too.

In chapter 69, Medusa and Justin Law seem to engage in some kind of Slasher Smile arms race.

Don't forget madness incarnate Asura.

And Stein whenever he gets a screw loose...

Patty sports one when she kicks Black☆Star in the nuts after he unwisely decides to ask for a time-out at the very beginning of their sparring match to get his hands tied up to supposedly make it even.

Special Edition Title: In the episode where the aforementioned Heel Face Turn occurs, the end credits change from the usual "Maka walking in place alone" to "Maka and Crona walking together" to demonstrate it.

Spell My Name with an "S": Many fan translators spelled the Demon Sword meister's name as "Chrona" or "Krona" until the third ED revealed the spelling to be "Crona."

Spoiler Opening: Subverted. In the second opening, we see Soul holding an unconscious Maka. In the series, it's actually Soul who falls unconscious at a pivotal moment, and Maka is the one who must save him.

The fourth ending is actually a Spoiler Ending.

For those watching the anime for the first time through the recently released Repeat Show, which so far is just the original episodes with brand new opening and closing sequences, the new opening features characters who don't even appear until the second half of the anime. It also gives away Crona's Heel Face Turn by showing him/her alongside the heroes at all times and even helping them take down a giant golem.

Standard Female Grab Area: Sort of played straight during the introduction of and subsequent first fight with Stein. Stein grabs Maka by one of her ponytails at one point, almost completely immobilizing her. While this is certainly more effective (and more painful) than the arm, one would think that a strong Action Girl like Maka would be perfectly capable of throwing a few elbows into Stein's stomach or something.

Actually, Sid appeared in the episode prior to that one. He's not outright named, but it's obvious to anyone who remembers his human appearance who he is when he appears in the next episode. Hint: The back of his shirt has his name on it.

In Episode 3, when Death the Kid is seeking souls for Patty and Liz, Shinigami-sama tells him about a witch who's ressurecting mummies in the Tomb of Anubis. She uses her mummies to collect human souls, which she uses to make more mummies. There's even a bit of a graphic showing how five mummies create two mummies each, who create two each, who create two each... she's running something of a Pyramid Scheme.

The witches' ultimate weapon is called B.R.E.W.

Stock Ninja Weaponry: Tsubaki isn't just proficent with "ninja" weapons, she transforms into them. More specifically, she has smoke bomb, kusarigama, tanto, giant shuriken and katana forms. Black☆Star wields her. Interestingly, Black☆Star's mentor Sid (despite being ninja themed) averts this trope by specialising in knives as his partner takes the form of a modern, Western survival knife.

Take a Third Option: During the last Mifune vs. Black☆Star fight in the anime. Mifune asks Black☆Star if he will choose the "Path of the Demon" or the "Path of the Warrior". Black☆Star (somewhat predictably) decides that neither path is good enough for him, and choose to forge his own path forward. He never really elaborates on what the path is, but it clearly comes with powerups (the Enchanted Sword grows about a foot longer and glows red.)

Crona also does this for Maka when Medusa is about to attack her. S/he then dies, sort of.

Also, in ep48, when Asura attacks Kid (or the bystanders in general?) Shinigami takes the shot instead and gets blown to bits. Ouch.

Soul does this again for Maka in episode 51, when Asura is just about to deal a finishing blow.

Chapter 79 has Sid push Marie out of the way of an attack, costing him an arm in the process.

Talking Animal: Blair, who is technically just a cat with magic strong enough to be able to assume a human form.

Talking Is a Free Action: Villains will literally stand by patiently, sometimes for over a minute, as the heroes formulate a new plan out loud.

Talking Weapon: Ragnarok, which can also use its mouth for Crona's Screech Alpha attack. Excalibur is also a talking sword, however much the cast might wish he wasn't.

Technically, all Demon Weapons are this, to the point that in the first chapter/episode, Maka is honestly worried when Soul stops talking to her while in scythe mode.

Tear Off Your Face: One of the hallucinations Free and Eruka Frog suffer as they get close to the Kishin's prison is that he's chewing their faces off.

Thanatos Gambit: Medusa seems to have pulled one of these as of Chapter 87. Crona, in a shocking plot twist, kills her after she showed hir motherly affection for the first time-- and it turns out that this was her plan from the start so that Crona's Black Blood could be completed. Truly the greatest mother in the world.

Theme Naming: Maka's parents are named Spirit and Kami. (Which can mean "Spirit" in Japanese.)

Actually, her name isn't Kami. The English-speaking fandom thinks it's her name because of a scanlation error that translated a word for wife, 'kamisan' as a name with an honorific by mistake. She's never actually been given a name. Funny what a single mistranslation can do.

The witches seem to be named after animals, especially women in Greek Mythology associated with animals.

Kishin Eggs are a mishmash of historical/fictional/mythological antagonists.

The weapon people, who are usually named after mythological and/or video game weapons: Marie Mjolnir, Masamune, Ragnarok, Excalibur, Soul Eater, etc.

Though Excalibur is stated (at least in the anime) to be the Excalibur in Arthurian legends.

Two of the students are named after Western Universities (Ox Ford and Harvar D. Eclair, Oxford and Harvard respectively).

Or more likely the concept and act of an actual Witch Hunt, originally the search for someone suspected of being a witch. These days it can mean looking for any negative element in society in a panicky effort to root it out after one prominent incident involving said element, such as pedophilia.

Mosquito's Police Stinger (both the band The Police and their singer Sting).

He is also, appropriately, a vampire. Though one of his transformations has him taking on a more 'traditional' look rather than the insect thing. Unwisely, Liz and Patty point out this look is 'boring' and he "looked stronger before".

Justin Law (Cantonese pop singer Justin Lo). The reference is more obvious when you see the names in Katakana).

Black Star is the name of a Hip Hop group formed by Talib Kweli and Mos Def. Coincidence? It's possible, but given the massive number of music references made with every other character in the series, it seems likely that the band is Black☆Star's namesake. Even more telling, this would round out the three main teams by giving each a musical reference (Damon Albarn for Maka and the Thompson Twins for Kid).

In a theme that isn't part of a Shout-Out, all three named members of the Star Clan are named a color and then "Star." Black☆Star, his father White☆Star, and his cousin Red☆Star (though he generally goes by the less obvious Akane Hoshi).

Eibon is named after a character who happens to be a sorcerer in Clark Ashton Smith's story The Door to Saturn. Eibon also wrote "The Book of Eibon" which chronicled his life and was filled with magical spells and rites.

The little girl Rachel may have been a reference to Jacob's wife Rachel in the Bible. (Especially considering the obvious reference to Eve, the serpant, and the apple shortly after Rachel's body was taken over by Medusa.)

Noah, the collector. Another well-known Noah also spent time collecting things—animals for his Ark.

Kishin Asura may be a reference to a group of power-seeking dieties in Hinduism called Asura or Ahura.

Those Two Guys: Ox Ford and Kilik Lunge. Subverted in the manga when they get expanded roles, not so much in the anime.

Nidhogg: "Are you saying you would take away freedom?!"Kid: "I am a Shinigami. I grant no freedom to kill."

Thriller on the Express: Episode 30 of the anime, "The Red Hot Runaway Express". Kid, Patty and Liz have to board the speeding train and fight an enemy on board for possession of a magical artifact, while a third party outside is fighting both sides.

Too Dumb to Live: In the anime, Lord Death has trapped Asura in his inescapable death chamber, and the shinigami seems to be pretty much guaranteed to win. Asura fires a powerful beam attack at Death the Kid and some other people who are watching the battle, which they aren't really able to join. Lord Death shields the onlookers with his body, which would be all well and good, except that he has been shown to be able to deflect all of Asura's beam attacks with Death Scythe, whom the Lord Death is currently HOLDING IN HIS HAND! Following this tremendous act of stupidity, about half of Lord Death's body is obliterated, and he's both unconscious and in very critical condition. (He eventually recovers, after the main antagonist has been defeated by the show's main characters.) Asura leaves from the chamber like it's going out of style.

Totem Pole Trench: In chapter 46, Kilik has his two (very tiny) partners be the head for their disguise as a cloaked Arachnophobia soldier.

In Episode 21 of the Soul Eater anime, Blair is fighting the (remaining) 5 Mizune sisters. She smashes four of the sisters with one spell... but the fifth sister behind her starts giggling madly. Activating the hivemind within the sisters (accompanied by speaking in sync and rhythmic finger-snapping), they then proceed to stack themselves in a tower formation. When the last member completes the tower, all the five Mizune combining to form... a Hot Witch. It Makes Sense in Context... I guess.

Unnamed Parent: Maka's mother has only been referred to in both the anime and manga as "Maka's Mother" or "Spirit's (ex)wife". A scanlater accidentally turned the word for wife into a name. Hence everyone calling her "Kami", but officially, she's nameless.

Unwinnable Training Simulation: Maka, Soul, Black☆Star, and Tsubaki, once they have apprehended Sid, are sent to kill the person who made him a zombie in the first place. That would be Stein, who is one of the most powerful Meisters in the world. They aren't told this is a test ahead of time.

Utopia Justifies the Means: Kid seems to have been hit with this recently. A black mass tells him that he's the God of Order (or something) and that he needs to create the ultimate symmetry by making everything unexist.

Wager Slave: The breather episode with the basketball game. If Kid's team loses then they'll move all the pictures in his house slightly off, and if Maka's team loses, she has to spend the weekend with her father.

What Could Have Been: Apparently, Soul Eater started out as three separate one-shots, which eventually evolved into the first three chapters of the manga.

What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: Among other things, Crona's name is a play on "Kuro na", translating as "dark one". And just for a moment, Shinigami-sama and Asura's competing auras form a yin-yang symbol.

Word Salad: We either hear the lyrics to, or hear Justin Law thinking the words to his music.

"Hey God... Today I killed another pig that was full of antibiotics... HEY GOD!!"

The Worf Effect: Black☆Star suffers from this. (He beats Mifune in his first appearance and takes down Sid, but is utterly overpowered by Stein, bested by Death the Kid, needs help to take down Free, fails to stop Medusa and is one-shotted by Asura during his awakening, following being utterly humiliated by Mifune during their rematch and failing to complete his objective during the battle with Mosquito) and indeed suffers a minor Heroic BSOD from it. Later in the anime, after recovering from his Heroic BSOD, he fights Asura and the Worf Effect started when Asura recovered from Death the Kid's Death Cannon with all three Sanzu Lines.

Seems to be reversing in the manga as well, unless Black☆Star loses to Crona...

Chapter 79, Tezca Tlipoca is bitten nearly in half by one of Noah's worms. Since we know virtually nothing about him, it's unknown if it'll stick. Stein, Sid, Marie, and Nygus are all also defeated very easily by Noah and Justin Law in the same chapter.

Turns out the Tezca we saw get bitten in half was an illusion; Justin knows that Tezca is the only person capable of tracking him, so Tezca faked his death to put Justin off his guard.

Also, this applies to Tsar Pushka and Feodor. They were killed (or maybe had a Fate Worse Than Death) by Crona in his/her return to the plotline. It was probably just to show that the new-and-improved Crona can, and will, kill a death scythe and its meister for Medusa.

Worthy Opponent: Despite his love of children, Mifune fights Black☆Star as an equal because of this trope.

Eventually. They're not fighting on truly equal terms until their last encounter, as Mifune held back due to his opinion of Black☆Star's youth and attitude. The trope applies once Black☆Star figures out the latter.

World of Symbolism: The big showdown between Death and Asura could be strongly reminiscent of a debate between Christians and Atheists. Death could easily be substituted for God, while the Kishin could be substituted for the devil, or a nonbeliever. It's actually really interesting when looking at it under those pretenses. However, Your Mileage May Vary.

Xanatos Gambit: Medusa manages to dupe the Sibusen into raiding Arachne's castle and going up against her forces with the whole intention of taking Arachne's body for herself. When two of your enemies are fighting each other, it doesn't matter who wins. Though, as per the trope, she did have a prefered outcome. Which leads to Maka being used as the Unwitting Pawn.

An earlier example is during the battle for BREW when Medusa has the Mizune sisters and Eruka retrieve the real BREW before the DWMA and Arachnophobia can get to it and switch it with a fake BREW while the two opposing sides cut each other down fighting for the fake artifact. She later informs the DWMA of the real BREW's location so as to gain their trust as a part of the previously mentioned gambit to get DWMA to trust her. In fact the whole thing could probably be seen as one big, elaborate Xanatos Gambit. All the doing of resident Magnificent Bastard, Medusa.

You Killed My Father: In the anime, Mifune killed White☆Star, Black☆Star's father, and Black☆Star eventually defeats him. Though in something of a departure from trope, Black☆Star isn't interested in revenge. Rather, Mifune tries to kill Black☆Star because Black☆Star is following in his father's footsteps -- his father nearly became a Kishin.

It's averted in the manga, however, in which Sid was the one who killed Black☆Star's entire family after they turned to evil, and is now the closest thing Black☆Star's got to a surrogate father.